By Oluwashina Okeleji BBC Sport, Lagos

Nwosu will be expected to repeat Nigeria's 2007 triumph

Nigeria have appointed former international Henry Nwosu as their new under-17 coach.

Nwosu, who was Nigeria's assistant coach at the recent Olympic Games in China replaces Alphonsus Dike, who was dismissed on Friday.

Dike was fired after Nigeria, the reigning world champions, failed to qualify for the 2009 African under-17 finals in Algeria.

Nigeria, who also won the last African Championship, lost 3-2 on aggregate to Benin in the first round of qualifying.

"We are hosting the World Cup in 2009 and need to make an important change as early as possible," the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) spokesman Ademola Olajire told BBC Sport.

"The board of the NFF apologise to the country for a catastrophic outing against Benin."

A gifted midfielder in his day, Nwosu was the youngest member of Nigeria's victorious 1980 African Nations Cup squad.

He also played at the 1982, 1984 and 1988 tournaments before retiring from international football in 1991.

Meanwhile, Nigeria's preparations for their under-20 qualifying match against Sudan in Abuja were disrupted by the theft of the squad's passports.

Team secretary Magaji Abdullahi was carrying the passports, when he was robbed at gunpoint.

Abdullahi was unhurt, but the passports are supposed to be scrutinised ahead of the game.

"The passports are all gone but we have spoken to the match officials and they have agreed for us to present the photocopies of these documents," Olajire explained.